Charles Bement Riggs - 1884-1885

Reverend C. B. Riggs was born in Elmira, New York, on December 28, 1854. In 1878, he graduated from  Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Shortly after completing studies at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, he married Ida Jesse Walker of Strasburg, Pennsylvania.  One year later, during the summer of 1884, Reverend Riggs arrived in Grand View with his wife and infant daughter to serve as the first Principal of the new Grand View Academy.  He taught Languages, History and Natural Sciences, while his wife instructed  in Vocal and Instrumental Music.  At the conclusion of the 1885-1886 school year, the Riggs family departed Grand View, only to return in 1894.  Reverend Riggs suffered poor health for most of his life, and his return to Grand View was an attempt to slow his deteriorating condition. Mrs. Riggs did her best managing a sickly husband and four children on a meager income, but by 1900 the task was too great.  The family left Grandview during May of that year, arriving at her brother's home in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 21.  At 45 years of age, Reverend Riggs died from tuberculosis five days after arriving in Indianapolis, and his body lies at rest in the city's Crown Hill Cemetery.  Mrs. Riggs survived her husband by nearly four decades, passing away at the age of 80 years on January 17, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey.  She is buried at the Strasburg Cemetery in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.